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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

TELEVISION—Film on Afghanistan Suddenly Interests TV Networks

When Woodland Hills filmmaker Suzanne Bauman and her colleague Jim Burroughs wrapped up nearly five years of shooting in and around Afghanistan in the late 1980s, she never dreamed that her film, intended to document the lives of its people, would be roundly rejected by every major broadcast and cable television network over the next 10 years. But today, after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, representatives of ABC-TV, NBC-TV and HBO all say they are interested in purchasing Bauman’s documentary, tentatively titled “The Roots of Terror: Afghanistan.” So are a number of other cable TV networks. Although Bauman wrapped up shooting on her film in 1990, she insists the film is as relevant now as it was when it was completed. “So very little has changed in that land that this work is still very much viable and contemporary,” she said, referring to the ongoing civil war and unrest that has troubled Afghanistan since the 1980 invasion of that country by the Soviet Union. Bauman, who is busy retooling the documentary in her Valley office, said she hopes to recoup most of the estimated $400,000 she spent in producing the film. But she would not reveal her asking price, saying some offers remain on the table. Officials with HBO, NBC and ABC confirmed they are in discussions with Bauman, but would not reveal details of the negotiations. But those who turned her down in the past said Bauman’s documentary was a tough sell, given its stark portrayal of a war-ravaged people. “We didn’t really think that it would work for us back then,” said Tammy Robinson, a production executive with the Public Broadcasting Service, who first came across Bauman’s film in 1996. “We weren’t sure if there was an audience for something like that,” said Robinson, explaining that dozens of projects are sent her way every month and only a few are chosen each year. “Two months ago, they were saying ‘I don’t think so. It’s just not commercial,’ ‘We don’t have a place for something like that,’ ‘We’re just not interested,’ It’s strange how that works,” Bauman said. Bauman, however, said she has managed to make a good living nonetheless. Her Film for Thought production company last year grossed $750,000, she said. That number could go up this year if she can interest a network in “Roots of Terror.” After years of pitching unsuccessfully to network honchos, here and in New York, Bauman says she feels somewhat vindicated for her faith in her film. “I had one person just sit there and shake his head,” she said. “I realize that if it hadn’t been for the terrible tragedy in New York and at the Pentagon, that there wouldn’t be much interest, but I would do this all over again.” Bauman’s efforts at marketing her film began more than a decade ago as she tried to set up meetings at the major networks. In short order, Bauman’s pitches were shot down. Then in 1992, Bauman and her team returned to Afghanistan to document the search for information about the death of American documentary filmmaker Lee Shapiro who was allegedly killed by Soviet troops in 1987. “But even after we came back, we still didn’t have a deal,” she recalled. Bauman began, completed and sold other projects, and still the Afghanistan documentary drew little interest from the television establishment. “For a while, British television was our best hope, but that never panned out,” she said. Bauman began her career at ABC News where she helped develop and produce documentaries. But when the documentary unit was disbanded in the 1980s, Bauman left to form her own production company and began producing documentaries on everything from Cuban-American relations to showcasing fashion. Richard Propper, head of Santa Monica-based documentary film distributor Solid Entertainment Inc., said documentary filmmakers like Bauman must often struggle to make a profit. “It’s just not a very lucrative business to be in if you don’t watch your costs,” he said, adding that most documentaries sell for about $100,000, on the average. Laurence Mack, a Studio City-based documentary filmmaker, said filmmakers often struggle for years, and sometimes must rely on sheer luck to make a deal. “Who would have thought that there would be so much interest in Afghanistan now? It’s pure luck,” he said. Reba Merrill, a Valley-based documentary filmmaker, said political topics are always a hard sell. “The market for political documentaries is always tough and you have to be timely like this film,” she said, referring to Bauman’s work. Bauman said she plans to cut the film from its original hour and-a-half length to a half hour or less, depending on the outlet. “Dateline (NBC) is very interested and that would probably mean cutting it significantly,” she said. While Bauman said a deal for the documentary is imminent, she believes its ultimate goal is to educate and inform about the plight of the people of Afghanistan. “It was meant to be a film about a people, but it became about the sad end of a beautiful culture,” she said. “We have these atrocities documented, the corpses, the land mines and the children with maimed bodies. It’s a sad reality.”

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